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Elizabeth Warren Pulls Support for Amy McGrath, Endorses Her Primary Opponent

McGrath losing momentum despite $22 million spent on McConnell challenge

June 18, 2020

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) rescinded her endorsement of Kentucky Democratic Senate candidate Amy McGrath on Thursday, instead backing progressive state legislator Charles Booker.

Warren expressed support for McGrath in a July 2019 tweet, calling the failed congressional candidate "a real fighter" who "inspired us in 2018."

But Warren joined a slew of national progressives throwing their support behind Booker, who has risen in the polls despite the $22 million that McGrath has spent on the primary to challenge Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.).

"I'm proud to endorse him and join his fight to root out corruption, dismantle systemic racism, and make big, structural change," Warren said in a Thursday tweet.

Endorsements have rolled in for Booker in recent days. The Kentucky Democrat is now backed by Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), and progressive Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.). He also picked up local endorsements from the Louisville Courier JournalLexington Herald Leader, and former Kentucky secretary of state Alison Lundergan Grimes, who lost to McConnell in 2014. In its endorsement, the Courier Journal called McGrath's campaign "unimaginative and uninspiring."

A Data Progress poll released Thursday showed Booker leading McGrath in the primary by 8 points. He has spent just $500,000 on the race. The poll also showed McGrath with a favorable rating of just 24 percent, compared with an unfavorable rating of 59 percent. McConnell led both Democrats in the poll by double digits.

McGrath did not respond to a request for comment.